Question

What are the similarities between the first and second great awakening?

Answer 1

First Great Awakening: • 1730s-1740s • Credited founder: Jonathan Edwards (remember Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?) Based on Puritan/Congregationalist ideals o Northampton, Massachusetts o Preached personal salvation o Discussed repentance for sins (why? Remember “declension”?) • Other major supporter: George Whitefield (revivalist, travels through the colonies) o More emotional, revival-like sermons and preaching o Influences the south (slaveholders participate; try to prevent slaves from attending) • Influence of the “backcountry” – non-wealthy colonists living further west, take new revivalism to heart and form new sects (remember the significance of this group on Early American History) Second Great Awakening: • Early 1800s; usually 1810s to as late as the 1840s • Most known leader: Charles Grandison Finney (has appeared in related DBQ essays) • Directly influenced by increasing political participation of common citizens • Plays a direct role in the antebellum reform movements, especially abolitionism (but also including temperance, prison reform, and women’s rights – remember the Mock Exam FRQ?) • Popular in the backcountry; especially the southern Appalachian regions • Again, slaveholders tried to prevent slaves from attending; eventually had to come up with Christian reasons for slavery • Role of the Second Great Awakening on the frontier? As people move away from traditional homelands, they must search for a sense of community • This is really where newer sects gain increased membership: Methodists, Baptists • Also, very different sects emerge: Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists